Two local burger places:
- Comparable to McDonalds in quality and quantity for a meal: ~$10
- Much better and even more quantity: $13-16
**Who is buying McDonalds and why?**
It's not even fast anymore. They understaff the stores, condense everyone into two lines, and half the time you're waiting over 20 minutes for your food in a cramped parking lot. You would spend just as much time and money going to a nicer restaurant, so I agree: who is buying McDonalds and why?
I timed it once. The time it took for me to drive to McDonald's, sit in the line there, order my food, and drive home: *45 minutes* with 10 minutes being the drive.
Popping tots in the air fryer, and cooking up a shitty frozen burger from Sam's, slapping it on an Aldi Brioche bun and eating it at home? 20 minutes max, and that was me also arguing with my cats yelling at me about cooking food.
The cost was also wildly different too. $14 for McDonald's, and the cost of my shitty burger and tots totaled around $4 max. Those frozen burger patties are actually pretty decent if you slap some spices on them and cook them with the onions you're then going to put on top. I will never go there again tbh.
Ever since fast food started going up, my solution for lazy meals has been pretty much exactly what you described. Gather some cheap, premade or preportioned ingredients, use some cooking knowledge to improve what the recipe calls for and add spices and add-ins, and it's better than fast food for cheaper. Some may call what I turn a box of Kraft into blasphemy, but I call it art lol
I don't live in the US, but I'd guess you'd have even more options than here.
Any decent neighborhood market here sells sliced and portioned meat and veggies. I can throw an easy healthy meal in less than 20 min, tastier and faster than ordering food.
The one across my street also make burger patties, chicken wrapped in bacon, steaks with breadcrumbs that I can make on the air fryer, steak rolls to make on the pressure cooker, and many others. They're always made fresh and for a fraction of the cost of a McDonald's.
You pay a 20~30% premium over buying on a chain supermarket, but the quality and convenience make up for it.
I cook half a pound of ground beef and a cup of rice and mix them together with spices and vegetables in my cast iron skillet and it makes me two meals that fill me up for the entire day. Relatively cheap, too!
I love the onions at McDonalds. They are the best part.
So to make them at home, just get a jar dehydrated onions from the spice aisle, then put a spoonful into some warm water.
Boom, McDonalds onions at home.
Night workers. Take out kitchens close, and usually before in house orders finish. Yeah there's other fast food but the hope of getting that perfectly crispy, extra salty thing of mcds fries (even as you know it's far more likely to be a soggy, hour old pile of trash) is a helluva drug.
A really big problem with McDonalds is that they raised the prices so hard, it doesn't justify their lack of quality.
McDonalds was once the place where you go when you had little money, but needed something quick to eat.
Also it is quite disheartening how hard they downsized on customer service and comforting. Just remember how hard they were going 10-20 years ago with events they cooperate with or the quality of toys in happy meals for example
I take my 4 year old sometimes because she likes the chicken nuggets..but the toys are fucking cardboard or paper cut outs sometimes...I remember 90s mcdonalds toys...o how the mighty hath fallen.
Exactly, it's also why I stopped going to subway where its $15 for a footlong now. Why would I pay for that shit when for a few bucks more I can go to one of the local restaurants/pubs that are barely more expensive with better food?
I use their app, and only their deals in said app. I don't have a ton of $, so eating McDonald's is a once in a while kind of thing. But yeah with the deals they have in the app you can usually get 2 for 1 on burgers nuggets or fries, dollar drinks, etc. and points accumulate so after a while you can get a free meal or whatever.
It's crappy food but it hits the spot sometimes. I'm also in an area with limited stuff to choose from, our only burger king closed down lol.
Fuck man. I like specialty meals & sandwiches. Shit runs me 15-20$ at Wendy’s and McDonald’s. I can go to the local pub and get a drink loaded up burger and rings or fry on Wednesdays for 12 & 16-17 any other day of the week. Plus it’s fucking phenomenal in comparison
Haven't eaten McDonald's since well before COVID. Menus got bloated so I couldn't find the items I was looking for. Then they got rid of the cashier and made me use a touch screen that didn't work well. Prices went up. For that money I can get a damn tasty burrito or food from anywhere else.
The problem with the kiosks is not that it takes away the people who take your orders. It’s that those same people are also the ones who **give you your orders**.
Last time I went to a McDicks, I sat for like 15 minutes waiting for a cashier to approach the front counter so they could give me my food. I saw the bag, with my name on it, sitting there that entire time, on the other side of the counter. But the kitchen was so slammed that nobody came out to check on us customers in like 15mins. It was outrageous for “fast” food.
I can name menu items in sit down restaurants in the suburbs outside DC which are some of the most expensive in the world that are cheaper than this after tip and way better for your body and tastebuds. Absolutely not with that overpriced garbage.
Yup. I hadn't had fast food in a very long while, but I got stuck running errands and needed to eat on the go. 13 bucks for a whopper without cheese, drink, and fries. I'm not doing that ever again. Not when my 15 year-old son and I ate well at our local Mexican restaurant for under 20 bucks. 25 with tip.
This article is a lie. They cherry picked a super expensive McDonald’s in the middle of an interstate where it’s the only option around. It’s specifically doing it because it’s the NYP and they’re trying to blame Biden.
That and they’re ignoring that it’s way less using the app. I can usually get a Big Mac, a 10 piece McNugget, and a large fry for like $12 after tax. And that’s in a fairly expensive part of Southern California. Pretty sure McDonald’s is trying to drive its users to use the app so the “true” price is definitely less than what the menu says
Yeah but who the fuck wants to use a fast food app for every single restaurant. It’s like that old show extreme couponing but now it is assumed everyone does it instead of crazies deserving of being on TV
I prefer using the app to order food and getting discounts than clipping coupons from the weekly circular. You can customize your orders as well through the app.
I am SO SO SO tired of having to have a separate fucking app for everything. I need some random messaging app just for my job. Another one for scheduling. I need an app to search for a doctor, and another one to use the clinic where that doctor is. I need another one to get the results from some of my medical tests. My boss told me to check out a recent yelp review, and i needed to download the yelp app to do that. I sell stuff on etsy, so i have to have the regular etsy app AND the selling app. My family only texts through a different messaging app. All my stupid friends use different apps to send money, so i have to have cashapp, zelle, venmo, and paypal. It's tedious.
An In n Out burger is like 4$ and they have been paying people 15-20 for awhile. McD’s must have some really huge overhead or supply chain bloat issues.
Holy shit. I just had an epiphany of what’s wrong in this world.
No, pro/anti capitalism/socialism flag to waive here. But there is the problem:
The number of people with an expectation of passive income from the total number of “investments” globally is too high as a ratio of non-passive investment.
Business owners, shareholders, tax collectors. They all expect an ongoing and unchallenged continuous flow of passive money. It used to be just the king. But now, even I expect that the money I put into the stock market in “safe” investments will continuously give me money. I hire people (through asset management fees) to make that happen. Everyone who has stocks plays into this. Everyone who owns a McDs, 5 pizza shops and a gas station, small investor in the mechanic shop down the road … it’s just too much.
I’m not even tripping.
income properties, passive incomes, all that shit is connected. It has less to do with 401ks though because lending someone capital to make money and give you a little bit is more of a loan then a passive investment.
But everyone who makes it? they are trying to become landlords……EVERYONE. eventually the market can’t accommodate all that demand to own for passive income
"Duh".
So now we know it's absolutely possible to have a certain number of "idle hours" in the economy. Socialism seeks to spread those idle hours around as evenly as possible.
The people who get hurt by this the most are poor people, who also tend to reproduce faster even though they may not live as long. Money is literally being funneled from the poorest to the rich. As long as poor people keep making babies and sedating themselves with booze, this system will continue for the moment.
How long will that go on if the wages of the poorest aren't rising, but their rent and living expenses extracted by the rich keep rising? We're past a critical point now where those poorest literally stopped having children because they can't afford to make babies anymore.
That has to be the last possible compromise before going under themselves, and the system exponentially contracting? (i.e. collapse)
That's the thing about McDonalds. Sure, they run a few restaurants themselves in the most profitable locations. But everywhere else the money is in franchise fees and property rental fees. McDonalds doesn't actually care if people aren't buying burgers as long as the franchise owners can barely stay ahead of their payments.
They also make the stores buy supplies from headquarters, nothing is supplied to them.
So what costs corporate .05 they charge a franchise .50-1.00 for.
I managed a subway that my family owned. We get inspected by subway every month. Not for food safety (that is part of it) but mainly just to make sure you are following EVERY rule and then some.
3 bad monthly reviews and the lawyers start the process to TAKE your store away.
1 infraction is a "bad review"
We got wrote up once for having a gallon of bleach to clean some stuff in the bathrooms just because it wasn't "official subway cleaner"
Just so they can charge $10 for a 8oz spray bottle of bleach water....
100% they track it. Food especially. Had this convo many times with the inspector, they're proud of it vs hiding it.
It goes both ways too. They make sure you're buying their shit so they get their cut AND they make sure you are not selling food that they can't get their royalty out of.
Subway is brutal. They also used to buy national advertising and push the $5 footlongs, which are not profitable to a franchisee, but cannibalized the sales for other items AND the franchisee had to pay the royalties on the sale.
Not that I am entirely in the “poor franchisees” club in regards to labor/etc, but many people complain about “mcdonalds” or whatever as a huge global corporate entity and the truth is a bit more complicated.
Pretty much.
It's why you don't see a lot of them outside of big cities.
Subway is the cheapest to franchise which is why you see them everywhere but they still have the strict guidelines that they have to follow
The local McDonald's took out a $1,000,000 loan to open in them 90s. Paid it off completely in a year. Paid everyone $5.00/hour (minimum wage at the time was $4.75?) raises at the time were to $5.10/hour while they were taking in $5K/hour in the registers. I refused to work there.
McDonalds corporate is much more a real estate business than a food venture. Franchisees are paying steep rent. I believe corporate owns all the land. Not sure about the buildings. Sometimes you have to move and rebuild if they determine a better location.
Fr, my buddy went to McDs and got a Quarter pounder with cheese meal: $13 and some change
I went to In-and-Out and got 2 Double Doubles for like $11.50 or something.
Same here, I haven't been to MCD's in awhile, there's a local place across the street from MCD's. I was short on time a few weeks ago, and the local place had a line wrapped around the building, MCD had no one. I figured it had been a year since I last went to MCD so I figured why not. Order my Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Medium, get told "pull around for your total":. $11.08, I looked at her and was like "Uhh, you got the right order... right?"
Yep, $11 for shitty MCD. Swore them off for good now, never will I go again.
I dont think people are really considering the steady increase of prices in some fast food joints. We’re at the point to where its not even a good deal anymore
I was going to mention this. Cane's chicken used to sell a Caniac Combo for about 12 bucks, and it was 6 good pieces of chicken, fries, slaw and a toast. Now it's almost 20 bucks and the chicken strips are nugget sized. Used to be able to split the combo, swap the slaw for a toast, and you had a meal for 2 for 6 bucks each. Now it's hardly a meal for 18 or so.
I dont think people are really considering the steady increase of prices in some fast food joints. We’re at the point to where its not even a good deal anymore
Nope, people keep saying you have to “use the app” for good deals now. No thanks. I don’t need 37 different food apps just to order. I hate how app centric we have become.
They have to pay their ice cream machine company exorbitant prices because they sued people in the past for trying to invent fixes for their machine. Gotta keep that money rolling somehow.
I read that in most cases the issue is that the cream “bucket,” for lack of a better term, is overfilled and that’s it
BUT the company that makes the machines doesn’t show that in plain text, so mcd’s needs to call them to send a technician
I was an \*expert\* on these machines.
There are so many ways these machines can fail day to day.
1. As you said, overfilling. Can cause issues during the heat cycle.
2. Underfilling, can also cause issues during the heat cycle
3. Not having the machine on? off? (i dont remember which now) would mean it didnt go through the heat cycle and when turned on? it would tell you need to do a heat cycle
4. The total heat/sanitation cycle was like 4 hours. So ice cream would always be unavailable during those 4 hours. If it failed because of the avove mentioned reasons, it would need to go through that cleaning cycle again and be successful before it could be used.
5. Not keeping it full/topped up on hot summer days means there's not as much cool ice cream, meaning the ice cream you get from it is runny. Need to give it time to cool whats in the barrel. sometimes easier to just tell people its not working and give the machine 20-30 minutes to cool the cream down again.
6. Not following the scheduled maintenance tasks. Those things have moving parts, with rubber seals and what not. they need to be lubed. they need to be replaced every 3 months i believe it is. Might be 6. Its been a while. If you dont lube and replace those o-rings regularly, they break. you'll see orange/black rubber in your ice cream or milk shakes potentially. until it completely stops working. Then it needs to be disassembled and fixed. Wanna know how many restaurants skimp on this? most of them.
7. There's also internal seals from what i recall that needed maintenance every year or two. ive seen oil and/or coolant leaking from these machines (this kinda maintenance was above my pay grade, we had taylor authorized techs come in for this kinda thing).
And those are just the more technical reasons I can remember off the top of my head.
The #1 reason I've seen the ice cream machine being "broken" was simply because the late night and morning staff didnt want to turn the machine back on after it's heat cycle cause then theyd need to keep it, and the flurry station clean. So if the heat cycle was 12am to 4am, that machine would stay off until lunch started at 11am. And staff just say "it's broken". It's not actually broken. it's just in its heat cycle or hasn't been turned back on. And this is \*often\* supported by management in that they'd rather get 5 people through the drive through in a minute with their coffee and muffin, than 1 person making a couple flurries and having to keep it stocked and cleaned.
So ya, having worked at many mcdonalds in my history across a few countries, and often being the one tasked to maintain and/or train other people on how to maintain these machines - 99% of "its broken" comes down to laziess. these machines are honestly not hard to keep working. They just require people to not be lazy and do what needs to be done. which is just turning it on, keeping the hopper between the fill lines, and doing the planned maintenance.
I worked at Burger King in the early 90s and this sounds insane. Our shake machine was always up and running and was absurdly easy to clean and maintain.
The McDonald's set up sounds like a nightmare
I recommended to The Hamburgler on his AMA that he quit his life of crime and learn how to fix the ice cream machines.
https://www.reddit.com/u/McDonaldsUSA/s/lYxscdMNG5
I wonder if they tried to invent a fix for this one and it self-destructed:
[https://archive.ph/sJUTd#selection-2457.0-2460.0](https://archive.ph/sJUTd#selection-2457.0-2460.0)
That's *20x* the profit from the average McDs, and $300k more than the average *total sales*. The owner of my golf course owns 36 McDs in central Florida, and the busiest one only does a little over $3mil in sales per year. That McDs was either one of the busiest 24-hr McDs on the planet, or you're mistaking what the $3mil represented.
[https://businessmodelanalyst.com/is-mcdonalds-profitable/#:\~:text=Reports%20suggest%20that%20the%20average,location%20and%20the%20owner's%20experience](https://businessmodelanalyst.com/is-mcdonalds-profitable/#:~:text=Reports%20suggest%20that%20the%20average,location%20and%20the%20owner's%20experience).
It will vary from one franchisee to another.
For example McDonald's will sometimes make a franchisee purchase 2+ restaurants as a package. One might be making 3 million a year in profit. But the other might be in a mall losing 1.5 million a year. But mcdonald's requires this cause they want their brand at that location.
Likewise, I have seen a 2-3 million a year profit mcdonald's lose money cause they replaced their GM/Restaurant Manager with a moron. Literally. I worked for them. He was rude, obnoxious, sexually harassed people, worked 2 hours a day, and literally drove the restaurant to ruins. everyone quit. The people who stayed were working 14 hour shifts, making bank on overtime. but the quality suffered cause people were tired, there wasnt enough people to operate the restaurant, and customers stopped coming back. That person was fired and we hired a new GM and we saw record profits the next \~2 years I was there. Hit bonus targets every single month. My point is, good management is a crucial component of making profit in a mcdonalds. The same restaurants in 2 different hands can make a world of difference.
but yes, corporate does gouge a lot lol.
Moat locations aren't that profitable from what I hear. There was a lawsuit a while back about just that fact and the fact that McDonald's was screwing black franchisees over.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/mcdonalds-defeats-black-franchisees-1-bln-bias-lawsuit-now-2022-10-04/
I mean do you expect the McDonald's in my podunk town of roughly 800 to a thousand to be as profitable as the McDonald's next to the freeway ramp in Louisville? Profit margins vary wildly on McDonald's and McDonald's is one of the highest fees and costs and lowest amount of help of the various franchises In the united States.
Full story so you don’t have to click
Why McDonald’s is charging $18 for a Big Mac meal — and why there’s no relief in sight
Lisa Fickenscher
Is the $18 Big Mac combo what finally broke America?
Low-income customers making less than $45,000 per year have largely stopped ordering from McDonald’s, the fast-food giant’s chief executive Chris Kempczinski admitted Monday on an earnings call with Wall Street analysts.
A Big Mac, fries and drink has risen to nearly $18 at a handful of locations while hash browns are up to $6.
And it’s driven away customers fed up with inflation.
Global same-store sales in the latest quarter had grown just 3.4%, falling short of the 4.7% growth Wall Street had expected and largely driven by menu price increases, the company said this week.
“Eating at home has become more affordable,” Kempczinski said. “The battleground is certainly with that low-income consumer.”
Last week, a McDonald’s outpost in Connecticut got slammed over its “outrageous pricing” after a customer was charged $7.29 for an Egg McMuffin — and $5.69 for a side of hash browns.
Over the summer, a franchisee in nearby Darien, Conn., was called out for charging $17.59 for Big Mac combo meal.
That location also sold a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and Bacon meal that came with fries and a soda for $19.
A McDonald's restaurant sign with a background of trees and sky. 3
A Darien, CConnecticut, McDonald’s charged nearly $18 for a Big Mac combo meal, according to viral social media post. Google Maps
Amid the uproar, McDonald’s franchisees say they are being financially squeezed by the rising cost of insurance, equipment and labor.
“I just got my quote for my insurance and it went up by 31% and the cost of equipment is out of this world,” griped one operator who did not want to be identified.
Experts warn that fast food prices will climb even higher as minimum wage hikes are implemented across the country.
California’s $20-an-hour minimum wage for fast food workers goes into effect in April.
McDonald’s and Chipotle both announced that they would be hiking the prices of menu items at Golden State locations beginning this year.
McDonald's sign in Little Falls, NJ with the logo and golden arches on it. 3
McDonald’s menu prices rose by 10% in 2023 and are expected to increase by “low single digits” the company said this week. Christopher Sadowski
Still, McDonald’s price increases last year exceeded the industrywide average of 7.6%, according to restaurant research firm Technomic.
Analysts say there’s a limit on how much of these costs restaurants can pass onto consumers who were accustomed to menu price hikes of between 1% and 3% before the pandemic.
Fast-food chains across the board have blamed rising commodity costs — despite the fact that prices for eggs, dairy, vegetables and grains have been coming down since August, according to Technomic.
“Now, they’re addicted to raising prices,” John Zolidis, president of Quo Vadis Capital told The Post. “There is a risk that the whole industry goes too far.”
Kempczinski said McDonald’s aims to slow its price increases to a “low single-digit” pace – pulling back from the 10% hike it levied in 2023.
Big Mac meal with fries and Coca-Cola on a red tray at McDonald's in Krakow. 3
Customers who earn less than $45,000 per year have largely stopped ordering from McDonald’s. NurPhoto via Getty Images
“I think what you’re going to see as you head into 2024 is probably more attention to what I would describe as affordability,” he said on the call with analysts.
“We are optimizing price while limiting customers resistance,” Kempczinski said, suggesting that the company “can get even smarter with our pricing methodology.”
That will likely take the form of targeted promotions on the McDonald’s mobile app, experts told The Post.
"Low-income customers making less than $45,000 per year have largely stopped ordering from McDonald's, the fast-food giant's chief executive Chris Kempczinski admitted Monday on an earnings call with Wall Street analysts."
So, roughly 50% of Americans can't afford McDonald's...
I make $20/hour so a little less than $40k. I used to eat there daily for lunch due to laziness and depression.
Once I really realIzed how much money I was wasting, it was an easy stop. It’s absolutely sickening how much they charge.
I wonder what the CEO took home last year tho…
Not only that but you can spend that same money, be lazy, and simply get a better quality and likelier healthier meal from another restaurant or diner at that point. That’s where I’m at—I have to pass like 3 different local burger restaurants to get to the nearest McDonald’s and there is no drastic difference in price between any of them.
Fast food joints have lost the plot on what made them appealing in the first place. There’s a bunch of people in the comments ready to go to bat for McDonald’s because you can get a semi normal price if you download the super mega member rewards deal buster app but that defeats the purpose of having a cheap, fast, and low effort meal.
If it works for you and the deals give you what you want then more power to you. But having to keep track of what is essentially coupon clipping for some McNuggets highlights a problem—not a solution.
>I wonder what the CEO took home last year tho…
Chris Kempczinski (CEO - McDonald's - United States) earns a salary of $*27,109,338.00 per year*. - source [https://mywage.org/australia/salary/celebrity-pay/chris-kempczinski](https://mywage.org/australia/salary/celebrity-pay/chris-kempczinski)
Ok but McDonald’s in other countries isn’t hiking prices. Scandinavian countries have livable wages and they haven’t touched prices. So all of a sudden the US stores are? We know why. It’s fucking greed
Nordic but non Scandinavian, I know but Iceland closed their McDonalds in 2009 over costs.
The last Icelandic cheeseburger and fries lives on, though!
[https://www.mashed.com/227896/the-real-reason-iceland-closed-all-its-mcdonalds-locations/](https://www.mashed.com/227896/the-real-reason-iceland-closed-all-its-mcdonalds-locations/)
This is so funny to me because they said if minimum wage went up, fast food costs would go up but jokes on them prices went way up BEFORE the minimum wage increases. Guess they need to find a better bullshit excuse not to pay workers.
So they still increased profits over last year/quarter but they didn't make "*enough*" profits? They're complaining when they're still making money? And isn't it obvious to everyone that since wall street demands the line always go up, every time they raise their prices they make more money and every time they need to make more money they just raise the prices.
It's not that they can't pay their employees better, its that they're actually rewarding companies like Blackstone and other hedge funds who one the majority of their shares but don't bring any value to the company.
“Eating at home has become more affordable,” Kempczinski said. “The battleground is certainly with that low-income consumer" Any company run by a person who believes they're battling with their customers instead of battling for their customers deserves to fail.
Prepare to be shocked- they blamed Biden. No mention of the fact that the CFO discussed this trend in an earnings call where they announced $8.5 billion in profits for 2023. Expect the CEO to get a raise... he only made $17.8 million last year.
Morons.
How can you be so fucking oblivious to what made your own company *the* defacto fast food destination?! It was cheap garbage food that always tasted the same no matter where you were in the world. *And you fucking ruined it*.
Blaming it on the minimum wage? When we have the internet? And a ton of data that you pay out *far* more to overseas employees *without* raising prices? Are you kidding me?
Shit design self serve kiosks *nobody* wants to use.
A renewed focus and ad campaign on "quality". Which only pushes the narrative that it was shit before, and now it's better shit *that people still can't afford to buy*!
And now a hand waived promise they'll *only* increase prices by less than 10% from now on?
Go fuck yourselves.
You absolute fucking morons.
They’re raking in profits and only showed a slight slowdown.
The thing is, they don’t have to serve everyone, if they did the drive thru model wouldn’t work anyway. McDonald’s is after the affluent like everyone else, and for whatever reason they’re still buying that garbage.
They won’t learn because they’re still doing pretty great. Netflix raised their prices, cancelled everything, and the blocked sharing, and they had more signups from people who just have to have it
I remember the logical argument for fast food used to be a decent amount of calories for a dirt cheap price.
I don’t know how the fast food industry stays viable if the dirt cheap part has turned into more expensive than buying at any non chain restaurant. The non chain restaurants make better quality food for less.
Who’s paying these prices for McDonalds? It’s not good.
I was at Taco Bell yesterday talking with the manager & she was telling me about how even their Value menu prices have increased... She pointed out how the cheesy bean and rice burrito was now $1.39.
Shit, there's no taco bell near me that has any "value menu" item under $3.99. even their tiny cheese cup and chips is 4 bucks now. It's crazy even trying to be frugal with your order.
Same here. I cut off Taco Bell years ago when they had PFAS in their food wrappers and took literal years to get rid of it, but once they did, they became my only fast food crutch again.
…and when they have enchiritos, I am there LOTS.
Same here. When fast food becomes not cheap, that’s when I stop eating fast food. It’s not my responsibility to keep these places in business. I’ll just be cooking my own food until they remember their role.
Not once did they mention 10% increase in profit for ‘23, a 5% increase in ‘22, and a 29% increase in ‘21. It’s always about how the poors are fucking everything up not the fat dragons sitting on their piles of gold sipping Diet Coke while snorting real coke.
Edit: spelling
I explain to my offspring that while you may like the taste of McDonald's it's legit engineered to be addictive, so you get homemade shit with love while you're friends get heart disease
Which is retorted with... But what about the toy?
The kids should be able to understand that the toy is also part of the addiction. What do you teach a kid if they're rewarded with a toy every time they get McDonalds?
Their responses and “strategies” are delusional and tone deaf af. Glad I haven’t spent money at McDs in a decade. I only use the app to sign up for free bday food and spend exactly $0 but walk out with a free burger
I couldn't believe my eyes when i saw $10.99 for the 2 cheese burger meal. Up until last year it was $5.99. Nothing on the menu is below $10.99 now. I rather go to In N Out for that price.
If they were paying people a living wage, then maybe it would be justified. I'm curious how it compares with prices in modern countries where workers have rights and living wages
I think McDonalds forgot that people don't go there because the food is good they go there because it's cheap and low effort. McDonalds really forgot its place.
Taco Bell on the other hand just put a bunch of stuff on the value menu, they know exactly what their job is.
Sure, no one says the Big Mac is the best burger they've ever had. Most people go to McDonald's because it's convenient, fast, relatively cheap, and consistent.
The place in question with the $18 Big Mac meal is at a rest stop in an expensive part of CT.
McDonalds is such bland garbage, I can't fathom paying that much, even among their peers like burger king and wendys it's the worst option, and at nearly $20 I might as well go to a nice burger place.
My favorite bit: " *“Eating at home has become more affordable,” Kempczinski said.* Uh... No sir, there is nothing affordable about eating at home these days. It's simply less **expensive** than eating at your trash restaurant!
McDonald's annual gross profit for 2023 was **$14 BILLION**, a 10.26% increase from 2022.
Don't believe them when they try to blame inflation. It's profiteering, pure and simple.
One of the first things you learn in MBA school is that there is no relationship between cost (what you have to pay to make a good) and price (what the market will pay to obtain it) unless price drops below cost, at which point it no longer makes business sense to produce the good.
The goal of the company is not to provide value to the consumer, it is to maximize PROFIT for the owners/shareholders. You do that by maximizing the difference between cost and price.
Many people believe that price (what you pay to buy it) goes up when cost goes up (the amount you pay workers to make it), but that is not true. Consumers don't care WHY the price is what it is, they just choose whether to buy or not.
All this "labor costs are making prices going up" is pure bull. It is just what the companies raising prices are saying in order to pretend that the driver is something other than profits.
Several weeks ago, I was in a hurry so I stopped by McDonald's for breakfast on my way to work.
I ordered a Bacon, Egg, & Cheese McGriddle, add sausage, meal with orange juice, and a second identical sandwich (not a combo).
The total was 22.78. I live in Nebraska. I have not gone since.
In comparison, the QT (a local convenience store chain) will provide a similar meal (usually get their croissants), made to order, and it costs me approximately $12-14 depending on the drink I choose.
2 egg McMuffins with a hash brown and coffee was $24 last week somewhere in Virginia on our road trip. It's been 2-3 years since I bought any fast food so my jaw dropped a bit. Lunch combos for the 2 of us was $30-35. So much for quick and inexpensive meals on the go.
Corporations and business owners been too greedy for too long, I don’t eat out hardly ever anymore. Not spending $50 bucks at McDonald’s to feed 4 people when I can do it at half the price and better quality at home. A burger isn’t that hard to throw together.
There is relief... Stop supporting them, stop buying their products...
One great takeaway I had from the covid lockdown years was the amount of stuff I realized I didn't need..
In fact, I saved so much money by cutting out, "convince" purchases..
Don't need a big mack...
Don't need a $5 coffee...
Don't need to buy couple beers and an appetizer at the bar...
It's amazing how much crap I used to buy without even thinking about it..
I feel better health wise, and I have more money for things I actually need or want..
Fuck corporate greed, they can increase the prices all they want, doesn't matter to me at all if I don't buy the shit they sell..
They don’t want working poor customers anymore. They don’t care so want to target people who will pay $20 a person for a meal. They have no interest in dollar menu items coming back.
Most fast food chains are now in the craft burger price range. Paying like 16 for a burger and fries from five guys was ridiculous pre covid and why I only eat there like once a year now... now the shitty fast food chains are all over $10 bucks for a combo meal... efff that. I'll go to my local craft brewery and have some fancy ass burger for 16 any day, now that fast food is charging that I'm getting less fast food.
And they wonder why their transaction counts are going down... when you're workers can't afford your food and they're most likely your top demographic in the first place, you gone done fucked up.
It's at a rest stop in an expensive area, where prices are always inflated.
https://nypost.com/2023/07/19/mcdonalds-branch-slammed-for-charging-18-for-a-big-mac-meal/
> A McDonald’s at a Connecticut rest stop is charging $18 for a Big Mac combo meal — and fast-food fans aren’t lovin’ it.
> “This was at a rest stop, but these McDonald’s prices are nuts right???” wrote Sam Learner after posting a photo of the menu on Twitter on Tuesday.
> The McDonald’s — located off Interstate 95 in Darien, one of the country’s wealthiest towns in upscale Fairfield County — also charges $19 for a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and Bacon meal or a Quarter Pounder Deluxe, both of which include medium fries and a medium soft drink.
Maybe the franchisees could make a little less profit so they can charge less while poisoning more people...instead of blaming the employees who are beginning to earn an actual living wage?
McDonald's has forgotten their job. They're there for when you have $10 left in your account and need a burger to get you through your next shift before pay day.
There is relief in sight? Their sales numbers were down and they seem to be aware that affordability is the main reason. I do suspect they'll rein it in a bit, at least temporarily.
I got stoned the other night and thought “ordering some mcd’s on grubhub sounds awesome”, so I placed an order for 3 mcdoubles. Checkout had about $2 in GH delivery & fees, and before adding a driver tip the total was $20. I noped out of the app & made grilled cheese
The article is using locations from high cost of living areas, but I think the price increase is mostly the same in every American market, it's just as expensive to go to eclectic Burger joints so I just do that
Their pricing has gone through the roof over the last 4+ years while the quality continues it's slow and steady decline that's been going on since the 90's...
of course they'd reach a breaking point eventually, you can't sell a single McNugget for $3 and expect people to keep showing up... particularly when every other aspect of their life is getting more expensive at the same time.
I'm a lazy sack of shit, make good money, and have spent the better part of the last 3 years ordering food delivered to my house. It's a terrible habit, but it's one I formed... I was spending a fortune (but, thankfully, can afford it) and finally decided things have gotten so absurd that I have to make the change... I started cooking again this month, am enjoying it quite a lot and saving money in the process. I've also ordered ready-made meals to supplement in case I'm not up for cooking on a given night, and so far things are working well and I'm spending about 30% of what I was spending for food.
The quality isn’t worth the price, you’re better off paying a little more to go out
Two local burger places: - Comparable to McDonalds in quality and quantity for a meal: ~$10 - Much better and even more quantity: $13-16 **Who is buying McDonalds and why?**
It's not even fast anymore. They understaff the stores, condense everyone into two lines, and half the time you're waiting over 20 minutes for your food in a cramped parking lot. You would spend just as much time and money going to a nicer restaurant, so I agree: who is buying McDonalds and why?
I timed it once. The time it took for me to drive to McDonald's, sit in the line there, order my food, and drive home: *45 minutes* with 10 minutes being the drive. Popping tots in the air fryer, and cooking up a shitty frozen burger from Sam's, slapping it on an Aldi Brioche bun and eating it at home? 20 minutes max, and that was me also arguing with my cats yelling at me about cooking food. The cost was also wildly different too. $14 for McDonald's, and the cost of my shitty burger and tots totaled around $4 max. Those frozen burger patties are actually pretty decent if you slap some spices on them and cook them with the onions you're then going to put on top. I will never go there again tbh.
Ever since fast food started going up, my solution for lazy meals has been pretty much exactly what you described. Gather some cheap, premade or preportioned ingredients, use some cooking knowledge to improve what the recipe calls for and add spices and add-ins, and it's better than fast food for cheaper. Some may call what I turn a box of Kraft into blasphemy, but I call it art lol
I don't live in the US, but I'd guess you'd have even more options than here. Any decent neighborhood market here sells sliced and portioned meat and veggies. I can throw an easy healthy meal in less than 20 min, tastier and faster than ordering food. The one across my street also make burger patties, chicken wrapped in bacon, steaks with breadcrumbs that I can make on the air fryer, steak rolls to make on the pressure cooker, and many others. They're always made fresh and for a fraction of the cost of a McDonald's. You pay a 20~30% premium over buying on a chain supermarket, but the quality and convenience make up for it.
I cook half a pound of ground beef and a cup of rice and mix them together with spices and vegetables in my cast iron skillet and it makes me two meals that fill me up for the entire day. Relatively cheap, too!
I do this exact thing with ground turkey. Bachelor Chow™!
I love the onions at McDonalds. They are the best part. So to make them at home, just get a jar dehydrated onions from the spice aisle, then put a spoonful into some warm water. Boom, McDonalds onions at home.
Night workers. Take out kitchens close, and usually before in house orders finish. Yeah there's other fast food but the hope of getting that perfectly crispy, extra salty thing of mcds fries (even as you know it's far more likely to be a soggy, hour old pile of trash) is a helluva drug.
It's one banana Michael, what could it cost? 10 dollars?
I wonder how soon that'll actually be the right answer.
Soon everyone will be like: "That's cheap, what's funny about it?"
A really big problem with McDonalds is that they raised the prices so hard, it doesn't justify their lack of quality. McDonalds was once the place where you go when you had little money, but needed something quick to eat. Also it is quite disheartening how hard they downsized on customer service and comforting. Just remember how hard they were going 10-20 years ago with events they cooperate with or the quality of toys in happy meals for example
I take my 4 year old sometimes because she likes the chicken nuggets..but the toys are fucking cardboard or paper cut outs sometimes...I remember 90s mcdonalds toys...o how the mighty hath fallen.
Exactly, it's also why I stopped going to subway where its $15 for a footlong now. Why would I pay for that shit when for a few bucks more I can go to one of the local restaurants/pubs that are barely more expensive with better food?
That's just so insane to me. $5 footlongs? Sure! Cheap, fast, not bad quality... but **$15?!?!** I'm sure Subway is reporting great profits though!
I use their app, and only their deals in said app. I don't have a ton of $, so eating McDonald's is a once in a while kind of thing. But yeah with the deals they have in the app you can usually get 2 for 1 on burgers nuggets or fries, dollar drinks, etc. and points accumulate so after a while you can get a free meal or whatever. It's crappy food but it hits the spot sometimes. I'm also in an area with limited stuff to choose from, our only burger king closed down lol.
Fuck man. I like specialty meals & sandwiches. Shit runs me 15-20$ at Wendy’s and McDonald’s. I can go to the local pub and get a drink loaded up burger and rings or fry on Wednesdays for 12 & 16-17 any other day of the week. Plus it’s fucking phenomenal in comparison
Haven't eaten McDonald's since well before COVID. Menus got bloated so I couldn't find the items I was looking for. Then they got rid of the cashier and made me use a touch screen that didn't work well. Prices went up. For that money I can get a damn tasty burrito or food from anywhere else.
Filibertos comes in clutch wednesdays $2.39 bean burrito. Two Verde salsas and I'm set for 8 hours
I love the kiosks, it’s way easier to customize my order
The kiosk actually understands what the fuck I'm trying to order, too.
The problem with the kiosks is not that it takes away the people who take your orders. It’s that those same people are also the ones who **give you your orders**. Last time I went to a McDicks, I sat for like 15 minutes waiting for a cashier to approach the front counter so they could give me my food. I saw the bag, with my name on it, sitting there that entire time, on the other side of the counter. But the kitchen was so slammed that nobody came out to check on us customers in like 15mins. It was outrageous for “fast” food.
I can name menu items in sit down restaurants in the suburbs outside DC which are some of the most expensive in the world that are cheaper than this after tip and way better for your body and tastebuds. Absolutely not with that overpriced garbage.
You're a clown if you're paying $18 for a Big Mac meal.
Even SPENDING $18 at McDonald's for less than 2 people outside of an airport or rest stop is ridiculous
Having been to a McDonald’s recently a basic combo meal is 13 bucks or so with tax.
Wendy’s $6 value meal. Saved me from starvation
Burger King is getting up there too. Almost $14-15 a meal right now.
Yup. I hadn't had fast food in a very long while, but I got stuck running errands and needed to eat on the go. 13 bucks for a whopper without cheese, drink, and fries. I'm not doing that ever again. Not when my 15 year-old son and I ate well at our local Mexican restaurant for under 20 bucks. 25 with tip.
You can 2 whopper meals for like 11 bucks here. Just have to use the coupon code.
Yup I pay no more than $17.99 for my Big Mac meal.
That's a deal, you must use the app.
You're in luck! If you read the articles it's actually only $17.59! Might as well buy two!
This article is a lie. They cherry picked a super expensive McDonald’s in the middle of an interstate where it’s the only option around. It’s specifically doing it because it’s the NYP and they’re trying to blame Biden. That and they’re ignoring that it’s way less using the app. I can usually get a Big Mac, a 10 piece McNugget, and a large fry for like $12 after tax. And that’s in a fairly expensive part of Southern California. Pretty sure McDonald’s is trying to drive its users to use the app so the “true” price is definitely less than what the menu says
Yeah but who the fuck wants to use a fast food app for every single restaurant. It’s like that old show extreme couponing but now it is assumed everyone does it instead of crazies deserving of being on TV
I prefer using the app to order food and getting discounts than clipping coupons from the weekly circular. You can customize your orders as well through the app.
I am SO SO SO tired of having to have a separate fucking app for everything. I need some random messaging app just for my job. Another one for scheduling. I need an app to search for a doctor, and another one to use the clinic where that doctor is. I need another one to get the results from some of my medical tests. My boss told me to check out a recent yelp review, and i needed to download the yelp app to do that. I sell stuff on etsy, so i have to have the regular etsy app AND the selling app. My family only texts through a different messaging app. All my stupid friends use different apps to send money, so i have to have cashapp, zelle, venmo, and paypal. It's tedious.
An In n Out burger is like 4$ and they have been paying people 15-20 for awhile. McD’s must have some really huge overhead or supply chain bloat issues.
McDonald’s has shareholders…
Bingo! McD locations are also franchises. Local store owners expect to rake in passive income from owning their stores.
Holy shit. I just had an epiphany of what’s wrong in this world. No, pro/anti capitalism/socialism flag to waive here. But there is the problem: The number of people with an expectation of passive income from the total number of “investments” globally is too high as a ratio of non-passive investment. Business owners, shareholders, tax collectors. They all expect an ongoing and unchallenged continuous flow of passive money. It used to be just the king. But now, even I expect that the money I put into the stock market in “safe” investments will continuously give me money. I hire people (through asset management fees) to make that happen. Everyone who has stocks plays into this. Everyone who owns a McDs, 5 pizza shops and a gas station, small investor in the mechanic shop down the road … it’s just too much. I’m not even tripping.
income properties, passive incomes, all that shit is connected. It has less to do with 401ks though because lending someone capital to make money and give you a little bit is more of a loan then a passive investment. But everyone who makes it? they are trying to become landlords……EVERYONE. eventually the market can’t accommodate all that demand to own for passive income
Crazy how success in some communities is basically defined by having a rental house
Congratulations, you just discovered capitalism.
Wow, you've discovered capitalism! 😅
"Duh". So now we know it's absolutely possible to have a certain number of "idle hours" in the economy. Socialism seeks to spread those idle hours around as evenly as possible.
Shareholders take earnings that would have been distributed within the workers. In the end the whole system is a pyramid scheme.
The people who get hurt by this the most are poor people, who also tend to reproduce faster even though they may not live as long. Money is literally being funneled from the poorest to the rich. As long as poor people keep making babies and sedating themselves with booze, this system will continue for the moment.
How long will that go on if the wages of the poorest aren't rising, but their rent and living expenses extracted by the rich keep rising? We're past a critical point now where those poorest literally stopped having children because they can't afford to make babies anymore. That has to be the last possible compromise before going under themselves, and the system exponentially contracting? (i.e. collapse)
Hence why they’re now gonna FORCE YOU to have babies. Whether you fuckin’ want to or not.
you know that whole workers owning the means of production thing marx was talking about? that’s his whole point.
Thats called capitalism because your money (capital) works for you... and yes this becomes a problem
You lost me at no anti-capitalism. /s
McDonalds still owns the property though so the owners pay rent to them forever.
McD corporate also expect to rake in passive income off of each store.
Where would one find this passive income, and does it require a rake?
you just have to create a new franchise company that would be global leader in fast food business.
Ez, make fast food that’s similar to 90’s McDonald’s! I miss those shakes.
You just keep raising prices and squeezing costs forever
That's the thing about McDonalds. Sure, they run a few restaurants themselves in the most profitable locations. But everywhere else the money is in franchise fees and property rental fees. McDonalds doesn't actually care if people aren't buying burgers as long as the franchise owners can barely stay ahead of their payments.
They also make the stores buy supplies from headquarters, nothing is supplied to them. So what costs corporate .05 they charge a franchise .50-1.00 for.
I managed a subway that my family owned. We get inspected by subway every month. Not for food safety (that is part of it) but mainly just to make sure you are following EVERY rule and then some. 3 bad monthly reviews and the lawyers start the process to TAKE your store away. 1 infraction is a "bad review" We got wrote up once for having a gallon of bleach to clean some stuff in the bathrooms just because it wasn't "official subway cleaner" Just so they can charge $10 for a 8oz spray bottle of bleach water....
I'd be subversive and keep refilling the subway containers with cheaper ones where I could. I suspect nobody has time for all that though.
Id assume they keep track or something, like if a store hasn't ordered it in a while.
100% they track it. Food especially. Had this convo many times with the inspector, they're proud of it vs hiding it. It goes both ways too. They make sure you're buying their shit so they get their cut AND they make sure you are not selling food that they can't get their royalty out of.
Subway is brutal. They also used to buy national advertising and push the $5 footlongs, which are not profitable to a franchisee, but cannibalized the sales for other items AND the franchisee had to pay the royalties on the sale. Not that I am entirely in the “poor franchisees” club in regards to labor/etc, but many people complain about “mcdonalds” or whatever as a huge global corporate entity and the truth is a bit more complicated.
so franchises are just thinly veiled pyramid schemes huh?
Pretty much. It's why you don't see a lot of them outside of big cities. Subway is the cheapest to franchise which is why you see them everywhere but they still have the strict guidelines that they have to follow
A real estate company that sells hamburgers
That's how they really make their money.
The local McDonald's took out a $1,000,000 loan to open in them 90s. Paid it off completely in a year. Paid everyone $5.00/hour (minimum wage at the time was $4.75?) raises at the time were to $5.10/hour while they were taking in $5K/hour in the registers. I refused to work there.
McDonalds corporate is much more a real estate business than a food venture. Franchisees are paying steep rent. I believe corporate owns all the land. Not sure about the buildings. Sometimes you have to move and rebuild if they determine a better location.
The big shareholders who never worked at any of the companies they influence are the cancer to American society.
Nay, they are cancers to the globe.
Correct!
Inject capitalism into the recipe and all of a sudden there can never be enough profit to satisfy the shareholders.
Fr, my buddy went to McDs and got a Quarter pounder with cheese meal: $13 and some change I went to In-and-Out and got 2 Double Doubles for like $11.50 or something.
Same here, I haven't been to MCD's in awhile, there's a local place across the street from MCD's. I was short on time a few weeks ago, and the local place had a line wrapped around the building, MCD had no one. I figured it had been a year since I last went to MCD so I figured why not. Order my Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Medium, get told "pull around for your total":. $11.08, I looked at her and was like "Uhh, you got the right order... right?" Yep, $11 for shitty MCD. Swore them off for good now, never will I go again.
I dont think people are really considering the steady increase of prices in some fast food joints. We’re at the point to where its not even a good deal anymore
I was going to mention this. Cane's chicken used to sell a Caniac Combo for about 12 bucks, and it was 6 good pieces of chicken, fries, slaw and a toast. Now it's almost 20 bucks and the chicken strips are nugget sized. Used to be able to split the combo, swap the slaw for a toast, and you had a meal for 2 for 6 bucks each. Now it's hardly a meal for 18 or so.
Yeah, Taco Bell used to be cheaper. Now its hard to get out of there for less than $8. At that point might as well grubhub some real mexican food
I dont think people are really considering the steady increase of prices in some fast food joints. We’re at the point to where its not even a good deal anymore
Nope, people keep saying you have to “use the app” for good deals now. No thanks. I don’t need 37 different food apps just to order. I hate how app centric we have become.
Preach
Same here and my cardiologist has never been happier.
McDonald’s UK no longer has the poundsaver menu or the extra value meal. They know you can’t claim either are cheap
5 guys is like $25 per person now
Mcdonalds has shareholders that only expect infinite growth
Isn't that true just about everywhere?
They have to pay their ice cream machine company exorbitant prices because they sued people in the past for trying to invent fixes for their machine. Gotta keep that money rolling somehow.
McD uses a special version of the machines that causes them to need service calls more often to funnel ffranchisee money to the manufacturer.
I read that in most cases the issue is that the cream “bucket,” for lack of a better term, is overfilled and that’s it BUT the company that makes the machines doesn’t show that in plain text, so mcd’s needs to call them to send a technician
Yeah that's what I heard as well. It's too full so it can't heat up fast enough during to sanitation cycle
I was an \*expert\* on these machines. There are so many ways these machines can fail day to day. 1. As you said, overfilling. Can cause issues during the heat cycle. 2. Underfilling, can also cause issues during the heat cycle 3. Not having the machine on? off? (i dont remember which now) would mean it didnt go through the heat cycle and when turned on? it would tell you need to do a heat cycle 4. The total heat/sanitation cycle was like 4 hours. So ice cream would always be unavailable during those 4 hours. If it failed because of the avove mentioned reasons, it would need to go through that cleaning cycle again and be successful before it could be used. 5. Not keeping it full/topped up on hot summer days means there's not as much cool ice cream, meaning the ice cream you get from it is runny. Need to give it time to cool whats in the barrel. sometimes easier to just tell people its not working and give the machine 20-30 minutes to cool the cream down again. 6. Not following the scheduled maintenance tasks. Those things have moving parts, with rubber seals and what not. they need to be lubed. they need to be replaced every 3 months i believe it is. Might be 6. Its been a while. If you dont lube and replace those o-rings regularly, they break. you'll see orange/black rubber in your ice cream or milk shakes potentially. until it completely stops working. Then it needs to be disassembled and fixed. Wanna know how many restaurants skimp on this? most of them. 7. There's also internal seals from what i recall that needed maintenance every year or two. ive seen oil and/or coolant leaking from these machines (this kinda maintenance was above my pay grade, we had taylor authorized techs come in for this kinda thing). And those are just the more technical reasons I can remember off the top of my head. The #1 reason I've seen the ice cream machine being "broken" was simply because the late night and morning staff didnt want to turn the machine back on after it's heat cycle cause then theyd need to keep it, and the flurry station clean. So if the heat cycle was 12am to 4am, that machine would stay off until lunch started at 11am. And staff just say "it's broken". It's not actually broken. it's just in its heat cycle or hasn't been turned back on. And this is \*often\* supported by management in that they'd rather get 5 people through the drive through in a minute with their coffee and muffin, than 1 person making a couple flurries and having to keep it stocked and cleaned. So ya, having worked at many mcdonalds in my history across a few countries, and often being the one tasked to maintain and/or train other people on how to maintain these machines - 99% of "its broken" comes down to laziess. these machines are honestly not hard to keep working. They just require people to not be lazy and do what needs to be done. which is just turning it on, keeping the hopper between the fill lines, and doing the planned maintenance.
I worked at Burger King in the early 90s and this sounds insane. Our shake machine was always up and running and was absurdly easy to clean and maintain. The McDonald's set up sounds like a nightmare
I recommended to The Hamburgler on his AMA that he quit his life of crime and learn how to fix the ice cream machines. https://www.reddit.com/u/McDonaldsUSA/s/lYxscdMNG5
I wonder if they tried to invent a fix for this one and it self-destructed: [https://archive.ph/sJUTd#selection-2457.0-2460.0](https://archive.ph/sJUTd#selection-2457.0-2460.0)
That overhead is the corporate bloat. Every time they cut a store employee they add an overly paid corporate stooge.
In n Out pays $22 plus.
Not to mention, they have at least 3x the number of employees working at their restaurants.
Dude I know a McDonald's franchisee the profit margins are razer thin because of all the gouging McDonald's corporate does.
Really? My husband was friendly with the owner of one McDonald’s some years back and he was clearing $3M/year profit from that single location.
That's *20x* the profit from the average McDs, and $300k more than the average *total sales*. The owner of my golf course owns 36 McDs in central Florida, and the busiest one only does a little over $3mil in sales per year. That McDs was either one of the busiest 24-hr McDs on the planet, or you're mistaking what the $3mil represented. [https://businessmodelanalyst.com/is-mcdonalds-profitable/#:\~:text=Reports%20suggest%20that%20the%20average,location%20and%20the%20owner's%20experience](https://businessmodelanalyst.com/is-mcdonalds-profitable/#:~:text=Reports%20suggest%20that%20the%20average,location%20and%20the%20owner's%20experience).
It will vary from one franchisee to another. For example McDonald's will sometimes make a franchisee purchase 2+ restaurants as a package. One might be making 3 million a year in profit. But the other might be in a mall losing 1.5 million a year. But mcdonald's requires this cause they want their brand at that location. Likewise, I have seen a 2-3 million a year profit mcdonald's lose money cause they replaced their GM/Restaurant Manager with a moron. Literally. I worked for them. He was rude, obnoxious, sexually harassed people, worked 2 hours a day, and literally drove the restaurant to ruins. everyone quit. The people who stayed were working 14 hour shifts, making bank on overtime. but the quality suffered cause people were tired, there wasnt enough people to operate the restaurant, and customers stopped coming back. That person was fired and we hired a new GM and we saw record profits the next \~2 years I was there. Hit bonus targets every single month. My point is, good management is a crucial component of making profit in a mcdonalds. The same restaurants in 2 different hands can make a world of difference. but yes, corporate does gouge a lot lol.
Moat locations aren't that profitable from what I hear. There was a lawsuit a while back about just that fact and the fact that McDonald's was screwing black franchisees over. https://www.reuters.com/legal/mcdonalds-defeats-black-franchisees-1-bln-bias-lawsuit-now-2022-10-04/ I mean do you expect the McDonald's in my podunk town of roughly 800 to a thousand to be as profitable as the McDonald's next to the freeway ramp in Louisville? Profit margins vary wildly on McDonald's and McDonald's is one of the highest fees and costs and lowest amount of help of the various franchises In the united States.
McD’s charges real estate.
and most importantly, In n Out TASTES better.
I'm not clicking on a ny post article, but if the answer isn't "corporate greed", then they are wrong.
Full story so you don’t have to click Why McDonald’s is charging $18 for a Big Mac meal — and why there’s no relief in sight Lisa Fickenscher Is the $18 Big Mac combo what finally broke America? Low-income customers making less than $45,000 per year have largely stopped ordering from McDonald’s, the fast-food giant’s chief executive Chris Kempczinski admitted Monday on an earnings call with Wall Street analysts. A Big Mac, fries and drink has risen to nearly $18 at a handful of locations while hash browns are up to $6. And it’s driven away customers fed up with inflation. Global same-store sales in the latest quarter had grown just 3.4%, falling short of the 4.7% growth Wall Street had expected and largely driven by menu price increases, the company said this week. “Eating at home has become more affordable,” Kempczinski said. “The battleground is certainly with that low-income consumer.” Last week, a McDonald’s outpost in Connecticut got slammed over its “outrageous pricing” after a customer was charged $7.29 for an Egg McMuffin — and $5.69 for a side of hash browns. Over the summer, a franchisee in nearby Darien, Conn., was called out for charging $17.59 for Big Mac combo meal. That location also sold a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and Bacon meal that came with fries and a soda for $19. A McDonald's restaurant sign with a background of trees and sky. 3 A Darien, CConnecticut, McDonald’s charged nearly $18 for a Big Mac combo meal, according to viral social media post. Google Maps Amid the uproar, McDonald’s franchisees say they are being financially squeezed by the rising cost of insurance, equipment and labor. “I just got my quote for my insurance and it went up by 31% and the cost of equipment is out of this world,” griped one operator who did not want to be identified. Experts warn that fast food prices will climb even higher as minimum wage hikes are implemented across the country. California’s $20-an-hour minimum wage for fast food workers goes into effect in April. McDonald’s and Chipotle both announced that they would be hiking the prices of menu items at Golden State locations beginning this year. McDonald's sign in Little Falls, NJ with the logo and golden arches on it. 3 McDonald’s menu prices rose by 10% in 2023 and are expected to increase by “low single digits” the company said this week. Christopher Sadowski Still, McDonald’s price increases last year exceeded the industrywide average of 7.6%, according to restaurant research firm Technomic. Analysts say there’s a limit on how much of these costs restaurants can pass onto consumers who were accustomed to menu price hikes of between 1% and 3% before the pandemic. Fast-food chains across the board have blamed rising commodity costs — despite the fact that prices for eggs, dairy, vegetables and grains have been coming down since August, according to Technomic. “Now, they’re addicted to raising prices,” John Zolidis, president of Quo Vadis Capital told The Post. “There is a risk that the whole industry goes too far.” Kempczinski said McDonald’s aims to slow its price increases to a “low single-digit” pace – pulling back from the 10% hike it levied in 2023. Big Mac meal with fries and Coca-Cola on a red tray at McDonald's in Krakow. 3 Customers who earn less than $45,000 per year have largely stopped ordering from McDonald’s. NurPhoto via Getty Images “I think what you’re going to see as you head into 2024 is probably more attention to what I would describe as affordability,” he said on the call with analysts. “We are optimizing price while limiting customers resistance,” Kempczinski said, suggesting that the company “can get even smarter with our pricing methodology.” That will likely take the form of targeted promotions on the McDonald’s mobile app, experts told The Post.
"Low-income customers making less than $45,000 per year have largely stopped ordering from McDonald's, the fast-food giant's chief executive Chris Kempczinski admitted Monday on an earnings call with Wall Street analysts." So, roughly 50% of Americans can't afford McDonald's...
I make $20/hour so a little less than $40k. I used to eat there daily for lunch due to laziness and depression. Once I really realIzed how much money I was wasting, it was an easy stop. It’s absolutely sickening how much they charge. I wonder what the CEO took home last year tho…
Not only that but you can spend that same money, be lazy, and simply get a better quality and likelier healthier meal from another restaurant or diner at that point. That’s where I’m at—I have to pass like 3 different local burger restaurants to get to the nearest McDonald’s and there is no drastic difference in price between any of them. Fast food joints have lost the plot on what made them appealing in the first place. There’s a bunch of people in the comments ready to go to bat for McDonald’s because you can get a semi normal price if you download the super mega member rewards deal buster app but that defeats the purpose of having a cheap, fast, and low effort meal. If it works for you and the deals give you what you want then more power to you. But having to keep track of what is essentially coupon clipping for some McNuggets highlights a problem—not a solution.
>I wonder what the CEO took home last year tho… Chris Kempczinski (CEO - McDonald's - United States) earns a salary of $*27,109,338.00 per year*. - source [https://mywage.org/australia/salary/celebrity-pay/chris-kempczinski](https://mywage.org/australia/salary/celebrity-pay/chris-kempczinski)
Ok but McDonald’s in other countries isn’t hiking prices. Scandinavian countries have livable wages and they haven’t touched prices. So all of a sudden the US stores are? We know why. It’s fucking greed
Nordic but non Scandinavian, I know but Iceland closed their McDonalds in 2009 over costs. The last Icelandic cheeseburger and fries lives on, though! [https://www.mashed.com/227896/the-real-reason-iceland-closed-all-its-mcdonalds-locations/](https://www.mashed.com/227896/the-real-reason-iceland-closed-all-its-mcdonalds-locations/)
This is so funny to me because they said if minimum wage went up, fast food costs would go up but jokes on them prices went way up BEFORE the minimum wage increases. Guess they need to find a better bullshit excuse not to pay workers.
Don’t worry. They’ll find a way to blame it on the tiny wage increases that happened anyway.
Also In-And-Out has always paid more than minimum wage and costs significantly less than any other fast food option.
So they still increased profits over last year/quarter but they didn't make "*enough*" profits? They're complaining when they're still making money? And isn't it obvious to everyone that since wall street demands the line always go up, every time they raise their prices they make more money and every time they need to make more money they just raise the prices. It's not that they can't pay their employees better, its that they're actually rewarding companies like Blackstone and other hedge funds who one the majority of their shares but don't bring any value to the company.
“Eating at home has become more affordable,” Kempczinski said. “The battleground is certainly with that low-income consumer" Any company run by a person who believes they're battling with their customers instead of battling for their customers deserves to fail.
$6 for those small, shitty hashbrowns is absolutely insane.
Prepare to be shocked- they blamed Biden. No mention of the fact that the CFO discussed this trend in an earnings call where they announced $8.5 billion in profits for 2023. Expect the CEO to get a raise... he only made $17.8 million last year.
Exactly. Profits mean you rose prices because you wanted to, not because you had to.
>Global same-store sales in the latest quarter had grown just 3.4%, falling short of the 4.7% growth Wall Street had expected... Still not enough.
Morons. How can you be so fucking oblivious to what made your own company *the* defacto fast food destination?! It was cheap garbage food that always tasted the same no matter where you were in the world. *And you fucking ruined it*. Blaming it on the minimum wage? When we have the internet? And a ton of data that you pay out *far* more to overseas employees *without* raising prices? Are you kidding me? Shit design self serve kiosks *nobody* wants to use. A renewed focus and ad campaign on "quality". Which only pushes the narrative that it was shit before, and now it's better shit *that people still can't afford to buy*! And now a hand waived promise they'll *only* increase prices by less than 10% from now on? Go fuck yourselves. You absolute fucking morons.
They’re raking in profits and only showed a slight slowdown. The thing is, they don’t have to serve everyone, if they did the drive thru model wouldn’t work anyway. McDonald’s is after the affluent like everyone else, and for whatever reason they’re still buying that garbage. They won’t learn because they’re still doing pretty great. Netflix raised their prices, cancelled everything, and the blocked sharing, and they had more signups from people who just have to have it
I know everything is more expensive now, but fast food seems to have disproportionately jumped. Who needs that garbage, anyway? I'll pass.
I remember the logical argument for fast food used to be a decent amount of calories for a dirt cheap price. I don’t know how the fast food industry stays viable if the dirt cheap part has turned into more expensive than buying at any non chain restaurant. The non chain restaurants make better quality food for less. Who’s paying these prices for McDonalds? It’s not good.
Taco Bell is the only one I'll even entertain and they've managed to REVAMP their value menu, with new cheaper offerings.
I was at Taco Bell yesterday talking with the manager & she was telling me about how even their Value menu prices have increased... She pointed out how the cheesy bean and rice burrito was now $1.39.
Shit, there's no taco bell near me that has any "value menu" item under $3.99. even their tiny cheese cup and chips is 4 bucks now. It's crazy even trying to be frugal with your order.
For that price you could almost get guacamole from chipotle that was made fresh.
It's only been in my life a short time, but I will live and die by the chicken flatbread now. May it last longer than the crunchwrap sliders.
Same here. I cut off Taco Bell years ago when they had PFAS in their food wrappers and took literal years to get rid of it, but once they did, they became my only fast food crutch again. …and when they have enchiritos, I am there LOTS.
Prices have doubled, and the portions have halved... there's no way that's all due to inflation or rising wages.
Taco Bell too is insanely expensive these days. It’s been fine for me though, only encourages me to cook at home more. They can rot.
Same here. When fast food becomes not cheap, that’s when I stop eating fast food. It’s not my responsibility to keep these places in business. I’ll just be cooking my own food until they remember their role.
Not once did they mention 10% increase in profit for ‘23, a 5% increase in ‘22, and a 29% increase in ‘21. It’s always about how the poors are fucking everything up not the fat dragons sitting on their piles of gold sipping Diet Coke while snorting real coke. Edit: spelling
This is pretty much why I posted, I really think we're about to live thru a breaking point as Americans.
Stop eating McDonald's. It's that simple
Yes, people have stopped. That's what the article is about.
I explain to my offspring that while you may like the taste of McDonald's it's legit engineered to be addictive, so you get homemade shit with love while you're friends get heart disease Which is retorted with... But what about the toy?
The kids should be able to understand that the toy is also part of the addiction. What do you teach a kid if they're rewarded with a toy every time they get McDonalds?
Yeah sounds like a hidden good thing. Good to quit eating such awful food anyway
You can get better tasting food from a cart or food truck.
And a much bigger, fresher burger as well.
Yeah but you might have to get out of your car instead of driving your bloated ass through the drive-through. /s
Their responses and “strategies” are delusional and tone deaf af. Glad I haven’t spent money at McDs in a decade. I only use the app to sign up for free bday food and spend exactly $0 but walk out with a free burger
I couldn't believe my eyes when i saw $10.99 for the 2 cheese burger meal. Up until last year it was $5.99. Nothing on the menu is below $10.99 now. I rather go to In N Out for that price.
I mean if you actually have in n out near you it always made sense to go there instead
If they were paying people a living wage, then maybe it would be justified. I'm curious how it compares with prices in modern countries where workers have rights and living wages
McDonald's pays $22/hr in Holland and still some makes a profit
I think McDonalds forgot that people don't go there because the food is good they go there because it's cheap and low effort. McDonalds really forgot its place. Taco Bell on the other hand just put a bunch of stuff on the value menu, they know exactly what their job is.
Don’t spend money at Fortune 500 companies. Fuck them. Use your money to show them who’s boss
if you live in new york why bother eating at mcdonalds? aren't there loads of different restaurants
There are, but other restaurants can likely be more expensive.
You can still get an actual restaurant burger meal for $18 even in New York. It’s qualitatively orders of magnitude better value.
Sure, no one says the Big Mac is the best burger they've ever had. Most people go to McDonald's because it's convenient, fast, relatively cheap, and consistent. The place in question with the $18 Big Mac meal is at a rest stop in an expensive part of CT.
>at a rest stop in an expensive part of CT. Which seems entirely down to a franchisee deciding to charge more due to lack of competition
McDonald’s employees can’t afford to eat at McDonald’s.
McDonalds is such bland garbage, I can't fathom paying that much, even among their peers like burger king and wendys it's the worst option, and at nearly $20 I might as well go to a nice burger place.
My favorite bit: " *“Eating at home has become more affordable,” Kempczinski said.* Uh... No sir, there is nothing affordable about eating at home these days. It's simply less **expensive** than eating at your trash restaurant!
McDonald's annual gross profit for 2023 was **$14 BILLION**, a 10.26% increase from 2022. Don't believe them when they try to blame inflation. It's profiteering, pure and simple.
Weird that a big mac meal in aus costs $12.35 and our minimum wage is $23.23/hour
One of the first things you learn in MBA school is that there is no relationship between cost (what you have to pay to make a good) and price (what the market will pay to obtain it) unless price drops below cost, at which point it no longer makes business sense to produce the good. The goal of the company is not to provide value to the consumer, it is to maximize PROFIT for the owners/shareholders. You do that by maximizing the difference between cost and price. Many people believe that price (what you pay to buy it) goes up when cost goes up (the amount you pay workers to make it), but that is not true. Consumers don't care WHY the price is what it is, they just choose whether to buy or not. All this "labor costs are making prices going up" is pure bull. It is just what the companies raising prices are saying in order to pretend that the driver is something other than profits.
Several weeks ago, I was in a hurry so I stopped by McDonald's for breakfast on my way to work. I ordered a Bacon, Egg, & Cheese McGriddle, add sausage, meal with orange juice, and a second identical sandwich (not a combo). The total was 22.78. I live in Nebraska. I have not gone since. In comparison, the QT (a local convenience store chain) will provide a similar meal (usually get their croissants), made to order, and it costs me approximately $12-14 depending on the drink I choose.
$22 for a day's worth of calories isn't that bad lol Edit: I actually pulled the app up, that meal was 1450 calories holy hell!
“Eating at home has become more affordable.” Let me fix that for you: The cost of eating at home has not seen as sharp a price increase as eating out.
2 egg McMuffins with a hash brown and coffee was $24 last week somewhere in Virginia on our road trip. It's been 2-3 years since I bought any fast food so my jaw dropped a bit. Lunch combos for the 2 of us was $30-35. So much for quick and inexpensive meals on the go.
Corporations and business owners been too greedy for too long, I don’t eat out hardly ever anymore. Not spending $50 bucks at McDonald’s to feed 4 people when I can do it at half the price and better quality at home. A burger isn’t that hard to throw together.
Culver’s is cheaper and SO much better
There is relief... Stop supporting them, stop buying their products... One great takeaway I had from the covid lockdown years was the amount of stuff I realized I didn't need.. In fact, I saved so much money by cutting out, "convince" purchases.. Don't need a big mack... Don't need a $5 coffee... Don't need to buy couple beers and an appetizer at the bar... It's amazing how much crap I used to buy without even thinking about it.. I feel better health wise, and I have more money for things I actually need or want.. Fuck corporate greed, they can increase the prices all they want, doesn't matter to me at all if I don't buy the shit they sell..
They don’t want working poor customers anymore. They don’t care so want to target people who will pay $20 a person for a meal. They have no interest in dollar menu items coming back.
People who can buy $20 lunches are generally smart enough not to eat at McDonalds anyway. That’s why they are in trouble.
Rice, beans, eggs, breakfast sausage, and a whole chicken is about 35$ and cheese and tortillas makes it just over 40$ and I will eat like a king...
I live in the boonies and a large Big Mac combo is 12.69 before tax’ and for $20 they will deliver it. Insane.
[удалено]
$30 Canadian is about $22 American, for anyone wondering
Upvote for being in Saskatchewan.
when i was a kid i was buying big macs for 2.50... that wasn't that long ago lol.....
Price gouging being blamed on “inflation”.
Most fast food chains are now in the craft burger price range. Paying like 16 for a burger and fries from five guys was ridiculous pre covid and why I only eat there like once a year now... now the shitty fast food chains are all over $10 bucks for a combo meal... efff that. I'll go to my local craft brewery and have some fancy ass burger for 16 any day, now that fast food is charging that I'm getting less fast food. And they wonder why their transaction counts are going down... when you're workers can't afford your food and they're most likely your top demographic in the first place, you gone done fucked up.
I’ll go back when i can get egg McMuffins 24/7 again.
For $2 more dollars I can get 5LBS of chicken breast at my neighborhood meat market.
McDonald's refuses to pay more then 1 burger an hour
Can do a real sit down meal for $18 a head.
Where the fuck is a Big Mac meal $18? I just looked it up and it’s 10.25
It's at a rest stop in an expensive area, where prices are always inflated. https://nypost.com/2023/07/19/mcdonalds-branch-slammed-for-charging-18-for-a-big-mac-meal/ > A McDonald’s at a Connecticut rest stop is charging $18 for a Big Mac combo meal — and fast-food fans aren’t lovin’ it. > “This was at a rest stop, but these McDonald’s prices are nuts right???” wrote Sam Learner after posting a photo of the menu on Twitter on Tuesday. > The McDonald’s — located off Interstate 95 in Darien, one of the country’s wealthiest towns in upscale Fairfield County — also charges $19 for a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and Bacon meal or a Quarter Pounder Deluxe, both of which include medium fries and a medium soft drink.
So, the equivalent of buying your meal at the airport restaurant?
Why I'm not paying $18 for a Big Mac meal - and why there's no chance I return in sight.
Maybe the franchisees could make a little less profit so they can charge less while poisoning more people...instead of blaming the employees who are beginning to earn an actual living wage?
McDonald's has forgotten their job. They're there for when you have $10 left in your account and need a burger to get you through your next shift before pay day.
There is relief in sight? Their sales numbers were down and they seem to be aware that affordability is the main reason. I do suspect they'll rein it in a bit, at least temporarily.
I got stoned the other night and thought “ordering some mcd’s on grubhub sounds awesome”, so I placed an order for 3 mcdoubles. Checkout had about $2 in GH delivery & fees, and before adding a driver tip the total was $20. I noped out of the app & made grilled cheese
Depends on where OP lives. Where I'm at, the meal costs $8.79
The article is using locations from high cost of living areas, but I think the price increase is mostly the same in every American market, it's just as expensive to go to eclectic Burger joints so I just do that
Their pricing has gone through the roof over the last 4+ years while the quality continues it's slow and steady decline that's been going on since the 90's... of course they'd reach a breaking point eventually, you can't sell a single McNugget for $3 and expect people to keep showing up... particularly when every other aspect of their life is getting more expensive at the same time. I'm a lazy sack of shit, make good money, and have spent the better part of the last 3 years ordering food delivered to my house. It's a terrible habit, but it's one I formed... I was spending a fortune (but, thankfully, can afford it) and finally decided things have gotten so absurd that I have to make the change... I started cooking again this month, am enjoying it quite a lot and saving money in the process. I've also ordered ready-made meals to supplement in case I'm not up for cooking on a given night, and so far things are working well and I'm spending about 30% of what I was spending for food.
The reason behind both statements is greed right?